August 2011 Guest Editor Deborah Lawrenson on F Scott Fitzgerald...
F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is so full of exquisite prose it’s like being glutted on champagne and diamonds and fluttering silk. And it’s the contrast between the glittering words, and the lost illusions and tawdry underside of the American Dream in the 1920s that makes this such a poignant read. That and the best closing lines of any novel, ever.
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One of Giles Coren's favourite books.
A classic that captures the mood of the 1920's, the time after the great War when life was for living. Gatsby in pursuing the 'American Dream' finds, with devastating consequences, that money may not be the route to happiness.
November 2009 Guest Editor Katie Agnew on F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
Whenever I'm asked what my favourite book of all time is I never hesitate - 'The Great Gatsby'. For me there's no contest. I first read this novel at school and I've re-read it every couple of years since. I'm obsessed with it - Fitzgerald's flawless writing style, his painfully flawed characters, the deliciously decadent Jazz Age setting and, ah, that tragic ending. The story breaks my heart every time but like a moth to the flame, I can't help myself. I love it! I want to be in it! In fact, whenever I need a pseudonym, I use the name Jordan Buchanan, a character from 'The Great Gatsby'.
A survey recently named The Great Gatsby as one of the greatest fictional playboys of all time … click to find out more
| Primary Genre | Classic fiction: general and literary |
| Other Genres: | |
| Recommendations: |
The Great Gatsby is often called the great American novel. Emblematic of an entire era, F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic tale of illicit desire, grand illusions, and lost dreams is rendered in a lyrical prose that revives a vanished world of glittering parties and vibrant jazz, where money and deceit walk hand in hand. Rich in humor, sharply observant of status and class, the book tells the story of Jay Gatsby's efforts to keep his faith - in money, in love, in all the promises of America - amid the chaos and conflict of life on Long Island's Gold Coast during the Roaring Twenties. This centennial edition presents the established version of the text in a collector's volume replete with social, cultural, and historical context, and numerous illustrations. The authoritative introduction examines persistent myths about Fitzgerald, his greatest work, and the age he embodies, while offering fresh ways of reading this iconic work.
The Great Gatsby features in the following genres: Modern and Contemporary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Classic fiction: general and literary, General Fiction, Fiction, Recommendations
The Great Gatsby is available in Hardback, Paperback, Book, Ebook, CD-Audio
The Great Gatsby was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and published by Cambridge University Press
The Great Gatsby has 278 pages
£18.00
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